Love Has No Color Fundraiser Starts Monday!
Our annual summer fundraiser is about to begin! We'll be sending emails outlining the details and how to participate so it's a win-win for all: your office grows and you help out the kids on the Fort Peck Reservation. Not on the email list, but want to get involved? Call 800-525-3879 to ensure you stay up-to-date on all LHNC happenings.
While we're on the subject of helping the kids, have you registered for Boot Camp 2012 yet? Read what Dr. Kory Spear of Illinois has to say about getting your butt there:
Boot Camp is almost here! I can't wait! This is a highlight of my year and an event I plan as soon as I drive off the reservation and head home from Boot Camp. You read that right...I drive. And yep, I start planning my next year's trip right away. It means that much to me. In some circles they would call my drive, “de-briefing,” but I call it planning ahead. Since, I am by myself in a car for about 15 hours, that means lots of planning and lots of ideas.
Last year we made an impact on the reservation with the kids and the adults there. A BIG one! Those kids didn't know what hit them and neither did any of us. I know as I got in my vehicle to drive home, at the end of Boot Camp, I had tears in my eyes, I didn't want to leave. The first few hours of my drive I was contemplating how I could alter my life and become the doctor on the reservation. I am a single man with a full grown son and I don't own my clinic or a house. Why not. But then I started to think of all of the things I was doing for the reservation off the reservation. Phoenix and Kolt called me on my drive. You all know Phoenix, and Kolt is her cousin, and one of the original kids to embrace TNR on the reservation. They both asked me to be the doctor and come back to Poplar and live. I talked with them for a few hours while driving home that night. What those kids did for me during that call is unbelievable. As I drove home conflicted about what I should do we hatched a plan to get them both involved in cleaning up their community. We talked about ideas to get them out there as mentors to the little kids there in Poplar. They got excited and so did I. They have graduated from High School since I have seen them last. I can't wait to congratulate them on their accomplishment.
So I am sitting here writing and I have to stop and wipe a tear. I get goosebumps thinking about being back there at Boot Camp. I went out a day early last year and my experience was one I will never forget. I remember last year, at Kids Day, the joy in those kids eyes. I remember the laughter, both theirs and ours. I remember the hugs from all of those kids. I remember the gymnasium full of kids as we handed out toys and backpacks collected in our offices. I remember Dr. Mike Musselman and I helping build the fire, for the stones to be used in the sweat lodge. Well, while we built the fire, a tornado blew thru, but that is a whole other story. I remember driving out of town and that feeling of needing to do more. I didn't just feel the need to do more myself, but to get more people involved in doing more.
Why am I writing this? Because I need to do more and get more of you involved in doing more. I need all of you to help! Since I got in my car last July, to head back to my cozy life in Illinois, so much has changed with Love Has No Color. The clinic on the reservation is real and is happening right now. One of our brothers in arms, Dr. Craig Onstott, is there and needs our help! Now is the time for all of us to step up and do more. I know, we have all done a lot. I know I have. But, is it enough? For those who know me I am a kill them with kindness kind of person. When it comes to Love Has No Color and Chiropractic there is no time to sugar coat things to make sure I don't hurt anyone's feelings. Chiropractic needs you! Love Has No Color needs you! I need you! Dr. Craig needs you!
We all talk about giving back. We all talk a lot and don't actually do much. We all have our own concerns and worries in our own lives. I know I do. Are you going to Boot Camp? Dr. Kevin is always saying, as he travels and talks about Love Has No Color, he is asked repeatedly, how will helping our kids on the reservation help their practices. I know that sounds a little “me first” but let's go there. Since I left Boot Camp last year my practice has exploded. My life has exploded. Love Has No Color helped me find my passion for my life. I am doing things I only dreamed of before. On a “me first” level, I have a new car, just moved into a new house, and just fulfilled a lifelong dream of competing in the Crossfit Games Regional Games. My practice is up over 30% just since the first of the year and my collections are even higher. I have been in practice 20 years my friends, something changed in me. Ask me what I am doing tonight. I am working on doing more for those kids. The more I do the more my community notices and I now have a group of people here in town, when I need something, I just call them. Why would I call them? For Love Has No Color. I will ask again, are YOU going to Boot Camp?
I want to make a challenge to all of you. We are TNR! Make it mean more than just words. There is a moment when we all need to stop talking, stop intending to do better, and just do it! First, if you aren't scheduled for Boot Camp, you need to be. At the very least, if you can't bring yourself to give up your cozy life for a long weekend saving lives and bringing hope and love to children, then do something for us. I know some of you would be there but outside events are keeping you from it. I understand that and the next statement is not aimed at you. If you are just too busy, or maybe a little afraid to step outside of your comfortable bubble, you still need to do something. Collect outdoor toys and backpacks in your offices, to send to the reservation for Boot Camp. Or, write a BIG check and send it to Dr. Kevin's office to help with Boot Camp expenses. Better yet, do both!
I am now part of a team that is developing an event to raise money so we can do more on the reservation. That's right, we need more money to do more on the reservation. This event is called Chiropractic for Hope. It is in the planning stages and it will be HUGE! All of you – ALL OF YOU – need to be a part of this event when we launch it. No questions asked. No excuses. To steal from Nike a few years ago, JUST DO IT! The chiropractic profession has become disjointed (pun intended) and it needs an adjustment to bring it all back together. It needs a cause bigger than itself. Chiropractic needs all of us, it needs TNR and it needs Love Has No Color.
Your fellow chiropractors are mostly scared and struggling. When you register for Chiropractic for Hope, reach your hand out, down the street or to the next town over, and recruit that scared chiropractor to join as well. This is just too important to continue to stay hidden in your office. To quote the people of Fort Peck, “We are all one people.” We are all in this together.
When you get the information for Chiropractic for Hope, register your office that day and let's get it done. There will be no cost to register for this event. There is no such thing as finding time for something, we all know you will never find it. Make the time. The idea of Chiropractic for Hope is to help the children in your own community, and in doing that, help the kids on the reservation. Simple as that. Chiropractic for Hope! How about Hope for Chiropractic?! How about Hope for you and me? Isn't that what Love Has No Color, and TNR, are really all about. What does it mean to be TNR? It means doing the things others can't do or won't do. It means giving back. It means doing it today.
At the next Mentor IV seminar, my team of passionate TNR chiropractors, and I, will be talking to all of you about Chiropractic for Hope. That means you need to be there. Don't worry if you are not we will still find you. This is too important!
So you have your challenges. Get to Boot Camp! If you absolutely can't make it, collect and send toys to the reservation for Boot Camp. Send a BIG check to Dr. Kevin. And when we launch Chiropractic for Hope, be the first to register. Join the team.
You can register for Boot Camp by going here: http://coachingforchiropractors.com/love-has-no-color/bootcamp/. (*NOTE: As of 2024, this article is no longer accessible.) Please don't hesitate to call TNR with questions. Recharge your passion, purpose, and humanitarian spirit...it does more than just help some Indian kids. Watch what it does for your practice and your life!!
